What’s more, according to Mr. Trump’s plans for the National Security Council, neither the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the nation’s highest-ranking military officer
and the president’s primary military adviser, nor the director of national intelligence, the president’s primary intelligence adviser, will be a permanent member of the council’s “principals committee,” a core group responsible for formulating policy.
The Trump White House insists that the new organizational structure does not downgrade the
roles of the chairman of the Joint Chiefs or the director of national intelligence.
In his first weeks in office, President Trump has outlined plans to reorganize the White House’s National Security Council.
President George W. Bush’s council, on which I served from 2007 through 2009 as
chairman of the Joint Chiefs of staff, was arranged similarly to Mr. Trump’s.
